The Brat in the Bathtub
by blessende
Summary: Fifteen year old meets his superhero from the other world. Set in the alternate universe of 'Searching for Levi'. One shot. [LevixEren]


The Brat in the Bath Tub

_(or The Super Hero of the Basement)_

* * *

_It is a dark, smouldering night in the city of Trent. Rorschach hangs from the turret of Cartesian Cathedral; one tennis shoe perched on a flying buttress, the other hanging limp in the air. The masked vigilante wears but one face, an ever changing myriad of black and white blotches of ink. The slanted eyes underneath the mask gaze upon the city below. It is quiet, much too quiet for his liking. The city sleeps below him but as always… _he_ can't._

It was midnight and there was an unannounced power outage. A transformer had apparently broken down. So he heard from the voices on the street.

It was midnight and Eren Jaeger couldn't sleep either.

The boy was buried under the comforter, torchlight held between his nimble fingers. He was leafing through the pages of 'The Masked Vigilante' Issue 55, careful to not soil the pages. The fifteen year old was so engrossed in the black and white panels that he'd lost track of time.

The comic had been his war spoils, after winning a bet with the ashbrown horseface in his class. A giraffe that went by the name _Jean Kirstein_. Jean had claimed he could kick Eren's arse at wrestling. A tall claim, unfounded in principle. There had been insults and name calling back and forth. Horseface and suicidal bastard being a recurring theme in the argument. The match would have been a draw if Eren hadn't lunged at Jean and bitten the pinky off him. No decapitated fingers but Kirstein had to be rushed to the infirmary. And the crowd of tenth grade spectators, declared Eren winner by default. He was hurled atop shoulders and given a warrior's cheer. Of course, his triumphant spirit deflated like a tire upon returning home. His mother Carla had chewed him out completely.

_'Fighting? Again! Oh Eren, is this the way I brought you up!'_

Besides brawling, Eren had another hobby which he took very seriously. Even more seriously than getting into street fights. Comics. Under Eren's bed was a secret stash of Ace, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Flash Gordon and the Watchmen, the last one a recent favourite though he was still trying to wrap his head around _that _one. Some of the graphic novels had been scavenged from garage sales, others he had traded with Armin in exchange for his father's lofty journals. It was Eren's understanding that anyone who chose Darwin's Origin of Species over the Masked Vigilante had to be atleast a _little_ kooky in the head and needed to set his priorities right.

Armin didn't take his advice to heart and called Eren a judgmental idiot in return.

Fair enough, Eren thought.

If Armin hadn't been a nerd, who'd do his homework then?

Eren stretched his limbs under the comforter, untroubled by the sounds of a leaking faucet in his bathroom. He shivered slightly against the cold draft; since he'd kept the large French window wide open. He was being reckless, he knew. But tonight was the night for rebellion. Tonight was the night for 'mayhem'. All because Eren had the house to himself.

Tonight, he was going to be a free man, free to do whatever the hell the teenager wanted to do. He could sit up all night and read his comics and there would be no one to nag him to bed. He would have preferred watching late night sitcoms or some gore, x-rated movie but there was a power outage in the neighbourhood and no one could get the generator working. So, _comics_ it was.

His mother was visiting a sick friend from work. There was no one else in the Jaeger family. His father Grisha had abandoned them when Eren had been merely ten, walked out one evening in the thick of shadows. His dad was never seen again. The only memory Eren had of his father was the strange key Grisha had left in his possession before pulling the disappearing act. Eren didn't know why the man had walked out on the family. It was one of those mysteries in life that only adults understood. Like how Grisha's framed photographs remained on Carla's dresser, which she insisted on keeping for some strange, inexplicable reason. Eren had torn down the pictures in his own room. He wasn't sentimental. Atleast, not towards people who turned their backs on others.

Eren's eyebrows furrowed and he stopped thinking about his dad. He peered down at the black and white panels on the page. Who needed fathers when one could replace them easily with comic heroes?

_Rorschach swings down by a trajectory, landing on the dome of the mausoleum. He spots a figure running in an alley submerged in shadows. He chases after it, step to step and finally corners the stranger at the alley's dead end. 'Hurrm,' he mutters and the figure turns around but there is something in his hand-_

The torch light flickered and breathed its last, throwing Eren into complete, utter darkness.

_Dammmit._

The fifteen year old rolled out of bed, muttering in disbelief. Of all the places, the torch had to die, this had to be the very worst.

Batteries were the singular thought in his head. _Must get batteries_. He needed to _know_ what happened next.

Carla ought to have kept the backup somewhere.

Eren grazed his way out of the bedroom and felt his way down the carpet stairs. He did a furtive left turn and paused in the hallway.

In the shadows that filled the house like uninvited visitors, something caught his eyes. There was a light under one of the doors in the corridor. A strange, wavering light which shimmered in the dust between the ground and the door.

The basement...

Wait. There was a power outage. _Nothing_ was supposed to be working. What the hell was in his basement?

_Oh god. A... burglar?_

He tiptoed to the door, clasped hold of the brass knob as quietly as he could and turned it.

_Locked. _

It had always been locked, he remembered.

What should he do? Call the cops? Wait for the burglar to come out on his own? _Oh decisions, decisions._

In the back of his head, Eren imagined Jean calling him a puss and having that swagger idiot laughing at him with a bandaged pinky pointing in Eren's face. The mental image was enough to stir him out of indecisiveness and Eren made up his mind.

He took two steps back and remembered someone once telling him. To never_ ever_ go into the basement. _Never_, said the ubiquitous voice of conscience. When Eren had been ten, he had listened. Now that he was fifteen with a dad who never stuck around, he wasn't inclined to give a damn.

Eren braced himself and plunged towards the door.

_THUD!_

_Creeeak!_

The hinges cracked and gave away under the weight of his crash. He tripped over the small, dusty steps descending down, scraped his knees against the railing and landed in a heap of arms and legs.

Okay. That didn't go the way he had planned.

Cursing under his breath, Eren found himself lying in a swamp of dust, cobweb and old engine grease.

_Fuckin' fantastic_, muttered the teenager and dusted his tshirt, letting loose a cloud of dust vapor.

Eren coughed, regarding the place around him.

There was no one else in the basement, much to his surprise. No burglars, serial killers, absolutely nobody.

But he knew what those lights were. And the knowledge didn't bring any relief.

There was a giant gate in the middle of the basement, towering high up till the rafters of the basement ceiling. It stood in the cramped space, as if it belonged there with its strange, majestic aura. Small bulbs were lit around its high arch, like control towers of the airport on a cloudy night. There was also a static electricity in the air, which made the hairs on his arms prick.

_What in the world…_

Eren spotted a padlock to the left of the arch, carved in the column between barcode lines.

_A lock…_

He stared long and hard at this oddity in the construction. And the puzzle fell into place in his head.

Eren groped for the string around his neck and fished it out.

Grisha's key was cold against his palm, illuminated in the arch's soft light. It glimmered and felt heavier than usual. Almost as if the funny thing in the basement was calling out to the key.

It was a wild guess but Eren did the only thing anybody in his position would have done.

He would regret it later on.

As soon as he jammed the key into the hole, there was a click.

A voice spoke out, mechanical and void of any emotion.

'_Authorization Code Accepted. Welcome to Titan.'_

The next thing Eren knew, he was lying at the bottom of a bathtub.

..-..

There is a feeling that is almost indescribable, which rendered words useless and phrases obsolete. And that was lying at the bottom of a bathtub, a bathtub not empty but filled to the brim with water. Not knowing how you got there but still alive under the weight of forty gallons of liquid. Eren struggled to break surface and when he did, the loud splash resonated through the hollow of a pristine bathroom.

Drenched to the skin, hair sopping wet, his lungs bled for air. His chest rose and fell, his heart thundering in his flooded ear drums. There were spots in his vision and the whiteness of the walls glared upon him. He took a ginger moment to gather his senses… that is, if there were any left.

Where in the world… _was_ he?

He coughed, sputtered and felt the cold wetness cling to him like a second skin.

Eren caught hold of the tub's sides and buoyed himself up. He landed one dripping foot on the ridiculously clean tiled floor and stumbled his way out of the shower curtains.

There were the usual appliances and the not so usual ones. He caught sight of a strange brush looking thing and a razor in the holder above the basin. There was a sink and faucet, both dry. In fact, the only lingering wetness was the puddle forming at Eren's feet. He didn't know where he was or whose house it was but it was apparent that no one had been in here for a while. He felt half guilty about spoiling the bathroom's orderly appearance.

The teenager peered around the room, searching for the exit.

_Ah. _

_Found it!_

He crossed the bath in two strides, leaving a messy trail of water behind him. And when he reached the door, he grew baffled. There was no latch and it was shut air tight. Eren pressed along its surface, hands frantic to leave. He grew amazed from the absence of dents and ridges. He'd never seen a door so effing perfect. Upon his touch, a red light illuminated the sides of the metal door.

Eren heard the sound of paws scraping on the other end and a dog barking.

Eren drew back surprised.

_Wait. _

_A dog? _

The canine kept barking, pawing the metal door and whined its discontent.

Eren crouched low and saw the miniscule gap between the edges. Maybe if he could wedge the door out... He looked around for something to use as a lever. A screw driver, a knife... oh god, let there be _something_.

Eren returned to the basin. There was a digital clock perched above the medicine cabinet, which he hadn't noticed before. It stated '10:53 pm'. Eren frowned at it. How long had he been lying in that bathtub? He'd ventured into that weirdass basement of his long after midnight. When did he get put in the tub? How long was it even _possible_ to breathe down under?

Eren yanked open the cabinet. The smell of formalin and antiseptic hit him without a warning and he buried his nose in his sleeve, sieving through the contents of the cabinet. _What the heck is this smell?_ He found rolls and rolls of what looked like medicated bandage, hence of course, the _smell_. And also five bottles of pills, labelled in a scrawny black writing.

But nothing to help him get out of this wretched room.

_Shit._

Eren drew back, the first element of shock settling in him. He was in trouble, oh he was definitely in deep trouble. How did he go from being in his basement to… to _this_?

There was only one logical conclusion.

Someone had mugged him and dragged him out. He had been possibly kidnapped from his own house and was now being held an unwilling hostage. And from the look of things, he had been here awhile.

Though a part of him wondered who in the world would want a sweaty, fifteen year old man child?

The answer was not comforting in any way.

Eren collapsed beside the bathtub, stumped. He drew his knees to his chest and raked his hands though his wet, brown hair.

The dog outside had stopped barking and there was that nerve-wracking quiet again.

How long before the kidnappers came back?

How long did he have?

He didn't know.

Eren's turquoise green eyes darted around. A weapon. He needed a weapon. But how was he supposed to defend himself with balls of cotton, a toothbrush thing, a towel on the hangar and... a razor?

_No._

He _could_ do something.

Brazen with determination, Eren stood up and huddled over to the basin. He reached for the razor, worked its lid off and drew the blade out. Next, he caught hold off the towel and dipped it in the water, letting it soak.

And then he waited.

There was a tick.

The clock on the shelf had struck one.

_Wait. _

_One?_

..-..

There are things a person expects when one comes home to his small, lonely apartment after a long, tiring day at work. When you're a bachelor of twenty six, a newly promoted lieutenant to the PeaceCorps of Titan, this usually meant a quiet dinner, a glass of red wine, cleaning up the mess created from said dinner and wine, a rudimentary game of catch with his mecha pet and then, some _much_ needed shut eye.

What Rivaille Levi had not expected was to find Krobe (his mechanical dog) on high alert. The rottweiler pup was watching the bathroom door with its ears perked up.

_Cute dog._

_But stupid, painfully stupid.  
_

'Hey there, dopey. What's got _you_ wired?' he asked the droid, a weary smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Levi slipped off his coat and sank on one knee to tweak Krobe's ears.

The dog was surprisingly not seeking attention. Instead, it caught Levi's pant leg and dragged him towards the door, egging the man to investigate.

'Alright, alright, what did the _door_ do to you now? Did the big, bad bastard slam shut on your tail? Did it bark _back _at you?'

With an exasperated sigh, Levi turned to the offending object and placed a hand over the metal surface. He had intended to show Krobe that the door was harmless, that there was nothing vindictive about it at all. The door swung open wide and Levi was treated to the second surprise of his day.

There was a boy in his bathroom, a stranger by all rights, holding a razor blade in his outstretched hand. What was more off-putting? The kid was trying to look fierce and threatening with it.

Levi stared long and hard.

The flow of emotions on the boy's face was more amazing to behold. Turquoise, green eyes looked startled at first and lips parted in a daze to utter 'Raw… shark?' in the smallest of whispers.

Levi silently hoped 'Raw shark' was some sort of a lexicon for 'Sorry to burst in on you uninvited…Mr. Levi, I beg clemency' but the boy was back into his fighting stance.

When Levi stepped into the light, flexing his fingers with a murderous glare in his grey eyes, the moment of missed clarity was fully gone. And the boy came hurtling forward to attack him.

..-..

'Ouch! Geroff me, you sicko!' yelled the boy, writhing underneath him. 'GET OFF!'

Levi sighed.

'English, huh? That's a relief. And I would love to _get off_, as you put it but you're not _legal_ yet,' the shorter man jeered, handcuffing the brat's hands behind him. The teenager went beet red. Levi had the boy pinned to the ground, having straddled his back. The brat hadn't gone down fighting. Kid was taller, Levi surmised grumpily.

'GET OFF!' roared the boy.

'Okay, _two_ things,' Levi said, holding up the razor blade to the boy's face.

'First. Did you _really_ think _**this **_would help?' Levi tossed the blade away and continued. '... Secondly and most important of all, who the _fuck_ are you?'

The boy was quiet and craned his neck to meet Levi's gaze.

'You're the one who kidnapped me, you jerk!'

'I did no such thing. Trust me; if I went around kidnapping annoying little shitheads like you, I think I would atleast _remember_ it.'

'Then, why the hell did I wake up in your tub?'

Levi looked at the bathtub in question and jabbed a finger in its general direction.

'You came out of _that_?'

'Uh huh,' replied the boy. 'Where am I? What's with this place?'

'You're in Trost.'

'Trost? Never heard of it.'

'It's in Titan.'

'Is that a country?'

Levi stared at him, grey eyes betraying surprise for the first time.

..-..

The communication network Gale beeped in the silence, signaling an incoming call until the lieutenant switched his comm. on.

'Levi,' breathed Hanji, excitement evident in her voice. 'Oh Levi, where is that boy?'

'What do you want, Hanji? I hope you're calling to offer your assistance in surrendering the kid to the authorities.'

'No, no, you mustn't. I checked on a lead. And it's true. He _is_ from Earth. Do you hear me? He is from _Earth_. DO you know what that means?'

'What are you blabbering about, woman? Did you trip and knock your head against-?'

'No, you said he called you _something_…'

'Yeah, _Raw Shark_. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.'

'No, my dear _Leviathan_. He meant _Rorschach_. R-O-R-S-C-H-A-C-H. A comic hero from the book 'Watchmen' who coincidentally wears a cravat just like _you_ do. I couldn't find the book in Titan's repository. Where do you think _he_ got hold of it?'

'What is your _point_, four eyes?'

'Mhmm, my point is... the boy is from Earth. He told you so and it adds up.'

There was a pensive silence.

'Hanji, wait. Are you telling me there is an illegal gateway connected to my bathtub?'

''mafraidso.'

Static and Levi muttered an expletive.

'Where is the boy now, Levi?'

'Oh, I dropped him from the window. Served him right.'

Hanji stuttered through her comm.

'You did _what_?'

'Don't worry; I've attached the gear on him. Bet he doesn't know what it does. Bet he is sitting on that slab of sixteen inches counting the seconds left to his useless existence.'

'Oh _Levi_,' admonished Hanji.

..-..

'-thirty five Mississippi. Three thirty six Mississippi. Three thirty seven Mississippi. Three thirty eight Mississippi...'

The boy sat on the ledge, emerald eyes blinking wide in horror. It was truly a sixteen inch slab that ran around the window and all that separated him from an endless tumble down into the dark depths of a blinding night city. There were the tallest sky scrapers he had ever seen, aircrafts buzzing between the spaces of the buildings like cars on a highway. He didn't understand this place. How a building seemed to tower mind bogglingly high into the heavens with no end in sight? Or why there was a robotic dog sitting on the windowsill barking down at him with a vengeance? Or how the clock had struck one from ten? And why he was being made to sit out here in punishment for biting the bastard's hand?

Levi walked into the balcony with a cup of tea in hand. Backlit against the light of the apartment, he regarded Eren with his cool, grey eyes. He took a leisurely sip of his tea and glanced with indifference at the boy sitting on the ledge.

'Hey brat, how is it going?'

Eren glared, still counting under his breath.

'-forty Mississippi. Three forty one Mississippi. Three forty two Mississippi. Three forty three Mississippi...'

Levi smirked.

'So, you're from _Earth_. You've got spunk, kid. I'll give you that. Most people would have shit their pants by now.'

'-Three forty four fuckin' bastard. Three forty five fuckin' arsehole. Three forty six _dickhead_.'

Levi's smirk only got wider.

'Sit tight, munchkin and reflect on what you did. It's a windy night and a two hundred feet tumble below you. Try not to lose your footing. I may not be able to retrieve your squeamish dead body from the city pavement,' Levi flicked a speck of dust from his sleeve. 'We Titans are firm believers of cleanliness and order, y'know. Especially me.'

Levi heard his door buzz and Gale's announcement of a visitor.

'Seems like I've got company. Who knows... it may be the military police on their way to take you _away_. You think you'll get political asylum?'

He caught the petrified expression on the boy's face and Levi chuckled.

The lieutenant had hardly slipped through the balcony doors when he heard a faint rustle and a THWACK!

Levi froze. No, no, the brat _couldn't_ have. He turned on his heels and bounded outside the glass doors.

The ledge was empty and Levi tasted the bile come up in his throat.

That _idiot._

..-..

'Did you find him yet?' asked Hanji.

Levi scaled down the building, gloved hands wrapped around the cable hanging from his window. 'Not yet, four eyes. And pipe down. I don't want to scare the wits out of some hapless fool who might happen to look out the window.'

Levi pulled at the rope, giving himself some length. He tested the wire parallel to his, which was slack, unmoving and with a weight still attached to it.

Rivaille knew he ought to be reaching the end of the line soon. The maneuvering cable did not support more than five hundred meters.

He was right.

As he climbed down, he reached the first level of clouds hanging around the apartment tower. Through the foggy mist, he saw the boy hanging limp with the cable attached to his back.

Kid was alive. Though his face was a sickly shade of blue.

Levi caught hold of his head and tilted it back. The green eyes moved in a daze under their lids.

The boy's eyes widened at the sight of him.

'What the hell are... you? Rorschach... Spiderman... I don't get it.'

Levi sighed.

'I'm flattered but trust me. I'm no superhero, you shitty brat… Rule number one, there are no heroes in Titan.'

The boy was quiet.

'Where _is_ this Titan? I just want to go home, you jerk.'

Levi paused, looking at the boy's brown head hesitantly.

_Alright. If that's what you want.  
_

He grabbed hold of the boy, cut the cables connected to the Earthling's back and tossed the teenager over his shoulders, trying to be as gentle as he could. Levi dangled in mid-air, wondering what his next course of action should be. It was one helluva climb up and Levi wasn't feeling inclined to take the long route. Nor was he fond of lugging the weight of two around. Darn, kid was heavier than he let on. Levi spotted the nearest balcony and swung to it nimbly.

Removing his gloves by his teeth, he knocked on the glass.

A light switched on and the curtains shifted.

A woman in skimpy lingerie appeared. She opened the sliding glass doors, her expression changing from stunned to shock as she saw Levi in entirety, hanging with a boy on his shoulder. From inside the bedroom, Levi heard a grunt and a wheeze as someone moaned the woman's name (Sylvia, apparently), urging the woman to come back.

Levi leaned towards the woman.

'Sorry to interrupt your fornication but mind if I use your front door?'

..-..

'That's the _Earthborn_? Is he still alive? Wait, where are you going? What are you doing?' Hanji asked as Levi pushed past her, the teenager still on his shoulder. He darted to his bathroom, beads of sweat rolling down his back.

Levi stepped on to the tiles and caught sight of the bathtub.

'Hanji... you said the gateway is here, right?'

'True. But what are you planning-'

Without losing another moment, Levi crossed the threshold and stared down into the shallow abyss of the bathtub. The kid was still groaning from the effects of nausea. Levi caught hold of the twerps's head and without a word of warning, the lieutenant dropped him into the water.

The water rose in a splash. But Levi did not close his eyes. He watched as the boy's head went under, blue green eyes snapping awake from the shock and a key escaping out of the folds of the teenager's shirt. Levi crouched by the tub and kept his hand on the boy's head, pushing him down under. Levi did not allow him to break the surface and watched as a familiar void of darkness opened at the bottom.

There was panic in those emerald eyes.

'See you space cowboy,' Levi mumbled, wondering if the brat could hear it.

There was a change of emotion, almost feral in quality. Petrified eyes showed a sudden spur of rage and a hand shot out of the water, grappling to pull Levi in.

Fingers wrenched around Levi's cravat, digging in and not letting go.

The boy opened his mouth to say something but all that emerged were bubbles of air.

Behind them, Hanji gave a yelp of surprise.

'He will drown, Levi. Stop _it_!'

But Levi stared down at the boy unapologetic and unflinching in his gaze.

The void jerked and pulled back the hand. It contracted, swallowing the boy with it.

Levi's hand floated in the emptiness of water, his ordinarily placid heart thundering in his ears.

He drew back his hand and watched the ripples slowly dissolve. Until he could see his own reflection in the pool. Just him, standing alone.

'Is he... gone, Levi?' asked Hanji from the doorway.

Levi clasped hold of his collar and removed the wet fabric from his neck. He looked down at the cravat.

For some strange, inexplicable reason, the touch of the boy's fingers had lingered.

'Yeah...' Levi said, puzzled. 'He's gone.'

..-..

Eren woke up to the voice of Armin screaming his name. He was lying in the hallway, eyes staring blearily up into the darkness of the ceiling. His ceiling. He was back home? _Home?_ Armin shone a bright yellow torchlight into his face and Eren flinched from the glare.

'Eren?' called Armin, sounding worried. '_Eren!_ Are you alright? Grandpa asked me to check up on you and oh God, I found you lying on the floor and thought you were dead. Oh God, what _happened _to you? Why are you… _wet _and _shivering_? Are you hurt? Do you want me to call the paramedics?'

Eren sat up and shook his head. He was fine, well, as fine as he could be.

He looked at his hand in silence, wondering why he had just done that.


End file.
